Lumberjacks and Dragons

Were we supposed to rescue her?

After dropping the living bandits off with the town guard, our heroes went to see Kep to see if his daughter leading the bandits instead of being captured by them changed anything. Since Kep completely denied that possibility, nothing very much changed with the mission statement. They stopped at the town guard again and offered to lead a scout with the town guard to the bandits’ hideout. The captain of the guard quickly agreed. So with Emali(?) stealthily following, they began to follow their trail back to the bandit hideout. Again they were waylaid by a group of bandits who led them back to the hideout blindfolded (Do all groups of bandits carry blindfolds?). Again they were led to speak with Lali Medalesire, who believed them when told that her agents had decided to attack a caravan and died leaving only the duo who prudently fled. Lali decided to give them another chance at the initiation, however she would be overseeing it personally. After following her an a few other bandits through the forest for a short while, Jedarkka attacked one of the bandits. After dispatching the bandits and charming and then chasing off Lali’s pet wolf by invoking the orb she had crafted with the assistance of Mistress Prianna, the two were facing off against only Lali. After becoming frustrated by her cloak and dagger tactics, Jedarkka sent the disembodied claw of force to attack Lali. Lali, did not expect such an entity in the forest, and dodged directly into its attack, and was struck dead. Our heroes (?) are puzzled regarding their next steps.